planning to breastfeed - do i need a bottle too? FTM!

[bradleybecky]

Do i need a bottle? if so, which do you recommend? too many to pick from! What if I can't breastfeed!? what's the back-up plan!? which sterilising kit? wah! panic!

I've just bought the half price Tomee Tippee bottles and pump at Tesco, will buy microwave steriliser soon just looking for a smallish model as they can be too big for the microwave.

I got a cold water steriliser and Milton. It was fine given that DD turned out to be a committed bottle/dummy refuser. I did have a bottle of ready made formula in the kitchen cupboard in the early days just in case but was never tempted to use it.

I know this isn't everyone's experience but I found breastfeeding easy from day 1. No pain ever, baby latched from day 1 and she slept in two 4 hour stretches at night after the first 2 weeks, and through the night (11-8) by 8 weeks. She did have a mammoth cluster feed before bed. (Just to let you know that it's not always a big struggle in the beginning- I think it's very baby dependent).

I didn't have anything in the house when DD1 was born as I was confident that I would breastfeed (and i felt like having something "just in case" was subconsciously undermining that). In fact her first few feeds were from a syringe which I hand expressed colostrum into with the help of a midwife in hospital (we were separated quite soon after birth for medical reasons and latching was hard). Newborn babies have a tummy the size of a malteaser so no need for a bottle. Plus, it's best to let your milk supply establish naturally with baby calling the shots in terms of supply and demand before you start doing anything like expressing - means you are less likely to have problems.

I then bought a few bottles, steriliser and a manual breast pump (all Tommy Tippee) (later bought electric, the Medela swing) when she was about 8 weeks old and did express a few times. It was a total faff. I had to go to a wedding which was strictly no babies when she was 4 months old which is pretty much the only reason I was concerned about getting her to take a bottle.

DD2 I got everything out for her so I could express etc and literally have not touched it. She has never had a bottle, I have never expressed for her. Pure laziness on my part really. Turns out (for me) shoving a boob in is way easier. She is now 1 and still going.

Good luck OP! Get support, have faith in your body, do loads and loads of skin-to-skin contact with the baby (they can actually "crawl" around and latch themselves on at birth if you let them but you have to be patient, google it!), get every HCP you come across at birth to check your latch and ask for help if it doesn't feel right at any point! Much easier to nip a problem in the bud! Finally, enjoy your breastfeeding journey! It is really lovely.

Sorry-my mistake about sterilising. I think you can use the cold water sterilising tablets as well but that would be more faff.

I had nothing in, MW recommended dribbling what I could express into DC1 off a (sterilised) spoon. It worked and bought me some time. I had the kit in for the others but it didn't encourage me to stop breast feeding.

Breast feeding is hard, takes effort, is often painful. I've had 4 DCs and each was difficult at first. There's an element of grit your teeth and determination.

But mainly I recommend getting a Savoy cabbage. Don't know how, but the leaves down your bra work miracles for engorgement.

I've had 2 babies and am currently breast feeding my second who is almost 5 months. I would say yes to needing a bottle too though - I have always given both of mine one bottle per day to give me a longer stretch of sleep at the start(dp gave the bottle and I went to bed). I used expresssed milk at first but then moved onto formula especially this time as I have no time to express with a toddler in tow as well as a baby.

The other advantage of this approach is that it ensures that you can go out for a few hours while someone gives them a bottle. I know a lot of people who left it too late to introduce a bottle and were then tied to the baby without being able to go anywhere or do anything for months on end. Personally I think getting a bit of a break is very important for your sanity so i would say it's important to make sure they will at least take a bottle from the early days.

I would agree there-I introduced a bottle of expressed milk by four weeks so they would be able to take a bottle.

I would say if it goes wrong in the first few days don't be afraid to give a bottle, get some sleep and try again. There is this all or nothing attitude with breast feeding which in my opinion puts too much pressure on a first time mum. My milk didn't come in for three days, I was induced at 37 weeks because of preeclampsia. Was in hospital for a week and ended up giving her a bottle. Was completely devastated. Woke up on day 3 or 4 with milk. Cried my eyes out on the ward. The lovely sister found me and said just try again. I did it for 18 months. It was hard but good advice is thin on the ground. A friend got lots of support from le leche. Good luck

We needed a formula top up while sorting out tongue tie, but we were advised to let the mw cup feed it, using a bottle too early can cause nipple confusion. Bottles are free flowing, unlike boobs, so unfortunately some babies prefer them!

Saying that, in hindsight I would have been a lot more stressed without back up bottles and formula at home. I ended up binning the cartons I bought, so I don't believe that it necessarily makes you more likely to cave.

No, a dishwasher at 70c or above is perfectly fine to sterilise.

If that wasn't hot enough to kill bacteria you'd need to make powder formula with 100c water.

You don't.

You need water at 70c which is hot enough to kill bacteria in the powder but not so hot it boils and damages the nutrients in the milk.

Let me add a positive story too: bf isn't hard for everyone. Yes, it can be hard, but you don't need to expect the worst! I never had any problems bf both times round, despite DS 1 being prem and having given DS 2 formula on the first two days of his life. He was starving, it was 30 degrees outside, I couldn't bear a night of clusterfeeding having just given birth. I gave him 20 ml of formula and he slept. I'm so glad I ignored my midwife who said not to , because he lost a lot of weight in those two days and I have absolutely no supply issues.
Definitely get some formula , you never know !

Definitely get the Dr browns starter kit just in case. You can use the bottles even if you end up express breast milk. And they really are fantastic compared to the other bottles available as your baby is less likely to gulp with them. If you're going to use formula, I'd second Hipp organic

Thanks ladies. Have narrowed it down to Dr. Brown MAM or nuk. Any tips?
I like that mam is self sterilising. ...

I had the MAM starter kit, he wouldn't take the bottles. Got the tommee tippee set and he took those fine - be aware you may choose something and baby may have completely other ideas.
I only struggled bf those first few days, and that was more from exhaustion from a traumatic birth rather than anything to do with the bf.

I ended up having a general anaesthetic three weeks after giving birth (completely unconnected) and was bloody glad to have formula in the house. You can get six small ready to use bottles for about eight quid - they're just peel and open.

I recommend Aptamil starter kit. Tiny bottles of ready made formula. Found them great for the first few days whilst I was waiting for my milk to come in. After leaving hospital I liked to give one bottle of formula per evening to give myself a break.

I second the aptamil starter kit! I bought them 'just in case' but breastfeeding has been successful for me so I've not needed them. Until I found out about the ready made bottles I had planned on buying bottles/ steriliser/ breast pumps 'just in case' but they would have been a total waste of money! If breastfeeding is not successful for you then at least you've got something to feed baby with until you get the 'proper kit'

Glad you're getting a basic kit just in case. We thought I'd exclusively breastfeed. We were discharged 24 hours after DD was born without either us or the hospital realising that DD was unable to feed (tongue tie). When she was weighed at 3 days, she'd lost 14% of her birthweight. The midwife spoke to a paediatrician who said she didn't need to be admitted, but we needed to get milk into her. I'd had a planned c-section, so my milk hadn't come in. It was 5pm on a Sunday evening, so not much was open. The hospital were able to tell us of a tesco local which stocked formula, and the midwife gave us a syringe to feed her with. If we ever have another one, we'll make sure we've got basic kit in advance.....

If you must get something just get a mam bottle which self sterilises in microwave ( or use a Milton tab in a container!) And hand express.

I've actually got a dr browns bottle ( reduced to £2), mam and a latch bottle- both of which were freebies! I had a complete bottle refuser with my second child.

You can get the medela for £100, somewhere always has it on offer. I found it at babiesrus and John Lewis price matched it.
Definitely worth the money, formula is about £10 a tin so it will pay for itself and you can resell afterwards.